Last Thursday we had the pleasure of convening to hear questions from our coalition members and gain insight from some of our area leaders.

Rep. Adam Smith, (D) 9th District Director Debra Entenmanstressed that it’s more important than ever to be engaged at the federal level. You can educate groups with cost benefit analysis – that is not advocacy. Make sure to contact your representatives even if you think they are “on your side”. They need to hear if you are satisfied and want more of the same, not only changes.

You can sign up for alerts through the Library of Congress related to changes in voting rights. Set up an advocacy day – make the calls, emails, and other actions on that day.

The current administration wants to cut funding for the census. Remember that the census brings federal dollars into our state/communities. Debra urges that “you are leaving money on the table when you don’t fill out the census.”

Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos advises not to send generic form letters – it is not the most effective way to influence policy.

It is important to engage with the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities. The purpose of this council is to commit a plan on how the state should eliminate health disparities.

Now is the time for us to focus on data disaggregation on every area in which we work.

REAL ID – is a Federal law that came out of 9/11 and the Patriot Act that says all states must develop an identification that is tied to proof of citizenship; this is an unfunded mandate. WA State has driver’s licenses or state ID. Encourage your communities to go with a passport rather than enhanced ID, if they need something for air and international travel. This is a cheaper option and will keep the pool of those with standard licenses and IDs in the majority.

Akua Asare-Konadu, Senator Rebecca Saldanas assistant mentioned that the Senator is looking for ways to partner with the community on data disaggregation.

Coming up on the HKCC calendar:

Using the HEAT*! Healthy King County Coalition Training of Trainers. August 29th, 9am-3:30pm, Pacific Tower, 1200 12th Ave. S. This training curriculum is designed to prepares trainers to implement the HEAT Tool in their organizations. The training is free! BUT, applicants must be sponsored by their organization. Apply for the training here!